Virtual Chelsea – Looking back at Chilstone’s best bits at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

This is the first year in a long while that we won’t be exhibiting at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Chelsea may be cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but we can’t wait to return in 2021! Since we are missing the world’s biggest flower show and all the friends we have made over the years, here’s a look back at the great things we have achieved there. Here’s to a virtual Chelsea!

Our Best 5 Gold Star Award Winning Stand

Over the years our stand has won the highest award from the RHS many times, but our favorite was in 2018! In a corner plot near the Grand Pavillion we were overwhelmed by the support of so many friends and customers!

All our RHS awards are displayed in pride of place in our HQ.

Our stand featured some of our best selling stone garden ornaments, from our Kew fountain to our classic Chilstone dove statues.

Our 5 gold star award winning stand at the Chelsea Flower Show

Shortlisted for Product of the year in 2017

Our Leda and the Swan sculpture in marble resin was a shortlisted for the RHS Product of the Year competition at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2017. We were shortlisted from 350 exhibitors to pitch our product to Deborah Meaden and the other judges. A brilliant experience and one we are very proud of! The sculpture designed by Admir Sljivic, is a sleek, contemporary portrayal of the conception of Helen of Troy. The circular piece is as an expression of equal beauty between the Greek god Zeus in swan form as he paired with Queen Leda.

Chilstone’s limited edition Leda and the Swan sculpture.

Our Leda and the Swan statue on our stand at the Chelsea Flower Show.

The BBC filmed our show garden in 2011

In 2011 we created a show garden at Chelsea. It was hard work but the Silver-gilt medal was well worth it! Featuring a stone pagoda with a garden swing and blue carpet, it was eye catching. We were very excited to watch it on the BBC coverage! Heather Appleton designed our garden room style garden for The Chilstone Garden.

The Chilstone Garden in 2011

People’s Award Winning Garden in 2016

In 2016 we helped John Everiss create his Meningitis Now Garden with a bespoke stone temple and engraving. So many charities are represented at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show every year. The gardens are always striking and tell a story. This was an incredibly moving Artisan garden that won the BBC People’s Choice Award.

Meningitis Now Garden designed by John Everiss.

Helping Charities continued with ellenor

Over the years we have supported many charities at Chelsea. We were grateful to Charlotte Hawkins who supported our charity fountain as a patron for Children’s Hospice,  ellenor  in 2017.

Charlotte Hawkins opened our fountain of hope for ellenor Children’s charity.

Launching new statues

After our success with our Leda and the Swan statue, which was shortlisted by the RHS for the prestigious Product of the Year Award, we decided to unveil a series of statues on our stand at Chelsea each year. In 2018 we launched Aquila, a life-like bronze eagle designed by Admir Sljivic.

Our bronze eagle sculpture, Aquila

We also launched The Birth of Helen, a unique piece in bronze depicting the hatching of Helen of Troy from an egg, daughter of Zeus.

The Birth Of Helen a sculpture made for Chilstone by Admir Sljivic.

In 2019 we unveiled our most intricate statue to date, our take on the Greek Myth of Apollo and Daphne. Our nod to Bernini’s classic statue displayed in Rome was made bespoke for a customer who always loved the myth and wanted a version for her own garden.

Chilstone’s Apollo and Daphne statue in marble resin.

Chilstone also showcased another bespoke commission, called “Music“. This limited edition piece is cast in bronze resin and featured in last year’s stand at Chelsea. Please contact our team if you would like a bespoke piece made for you.

Chilstone’s bespoke statue “Music” in bronze resin.

Thank You

We couldn’t exhibit at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show without the help of our team. Our the skilled craftspeople in our workshop hand craft all our products every day and make a special effort to produce outstanding pieces to  take to Chelsea each year with our production manager.

Our skilled team handcraft all our stonework.

We are also grateful to the garden designers at Sandstone Design who have helped create our stand over the years. Thanks to How Green Nursery for our plants and a HUGE thank you to the team in our office who sort out all the logistics and staff our stand each year. We are a very small company and it takes a massive team effort to produce award winning stands year after year. Our staff our quite a shy bunch, so here is a photo of the team from Sandstone and How Green on our stand in 2017 with our General Manager.

Sandstone Design and How Green Nursery help to celebrate Chilstone’s RHS 5-Star award in 2017

See you in 2021!

Our stand at Chelsea 2019

But hopefully you will visit our show garden in Kent before then! We are open by appointment only but our phone lines are open seven days a week 01892 740866 or email office @chilstone.com

We hope you enjoyed our blogs for virtual Chelsea! Please keep posting your pictures to #gardeningtogether. Tag us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.